There has long been a need for an effective and economical vehicle drip pan assembly that collects both fluid and particle drippings from the car and has means for easily flushing and draining away such drippings, thereby obviating the problems attendant with automobile engine oil drippings, salt, snow and mud drippings, e.g. soiling and staining of garage floors, the most serious consequence thereof being the tracking of oil and sludge from the garage floor into the home and into the interior of the car.
Any vehicle powered by an internal combustion engine inevitably sooner or later leaks oil, usually from the crankcase, but also often from the transmission and other parts. Such oil drips soak into concrete and asphalt surfaces on which the vehicles are parked to stain the surface and create a possible fire hazard.
Drip trays have been provided heretofore for catching oil drippings beneath motor vehicles, but these have been open to the objection that they are difficult and obnoxious to clean, so that they are often used without cleaning long after they should have been cleaned or thrown away. Additionally, known trays have tended to skid or become displaced from the proper position underneath the motor vehicle so that they are run over by the tires of the vehicle and broken, or are not properly positioned to catch the drippings.